51 known tiger deaths in India this year, so far.

It has been stated that fifty-one tigers have died in different states of India between January and December 5, 2011. A tigress shot dead outside Kaziranga National Park in Assam on Monday is the latest on the list. Figures provided by Wildlife Protection Society of India show that 14 tigers perished in Uttarakhand, the highest in a single state. Karnataka takes the second place with six deaths while Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh account for five each.   Poaching, road accident, infighting and fights with other animals are some of the reasons for the deaths. Some tigers died of natural causes and diseases too. A few were killed by villagers, police and the forest department. Skins, bones, skulls and claws of the royal big cat have also been seized in Manipur, Orissa, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand this year, showing that the illegal trade in tiger parts is still ongoing.

A tigress was found dead without her claws, canines or whiskers in Chhattisgarh’s Bhoramdeo Wildlife Sanctuary on November 15 (see photo). “A labourer engaged in patrolling had committed the act. He has been arrested and jailed. He confessed that he had poisoned a cow killed by the tigress. The big cat came back for the kill and died of poisoning. He then took out the claws and other parts of its body,” said Ram Prakash, the principal chief conservator of forests in Chhattisgarh.  There were three more tiger deaths in November. On November 3, a tigress was accidentally electrocuted by a cable connected to an electric motor pump in Vihirgaon village in Maharashtra’s Chandrapur district. In another case on November 20, a tiger died after getting trapped in a wire set up by villagers near Tipeswar Wildlife Sanctuary, Mahrashtra.

On November 20, an injured 14-year-old tiger known as B2 was tranquilized and rescued by forest department in Madhya Pradesh’s Bandhavgarh reserve. But the tiger died some time after the capture.

The tiger census figures released officially in January 2008, showed a mere 1,411 tigers alive as compared to 3,508 in 1997, a drastic drop of 60%. According to fresh government estimates in March 2011, the number now is anywhere between 1,571 and 1,875; the average working out to 1,706.

TigerTime has found these statistic horrifying, to know that there is only a maximum of 1,875 tigers in the wild is deeply upsetting and fuels our passion to help the tiger live at peace in the wild.

Source: The Times of India

The David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation and the TigerTime campaign are making a real difference to the life of the tiger in the wild – for more click here

Written by: Chantelle M Henderson – Twitter